Racial turnover destroyed area churches and forced costly congregation relocations

Evidence

Although such ties to schools were limited, the bonds to area churches were quite strong. When asked “Do you attend church in this neighborhood?” more than 70 percent said yes, pointing to one of the many Protestant churches in the area. For congregationally controlled churches like these, neighborhood concerns were church concerns. Not only did the congregations live in contested areas; in almost all cases, their pastors did too. Keeping Moreland Heights white was, therefore, both a pastoral and personal activity for many ministers. … But it was too late. The rush to sell was on, and the neighborhood underwent swift racial succession. By 1960 three-fourths of the homes in Moreland Heights were occupied by blacks. Just as WSMDC planners and local residents had feared, the churches were “wiped out” by the racial transition. The First Church of the Nazarene and Southeast Christian both sold their buildings to black buyers and fled the neighborhood with their congregations. The Whitefoord Baptist Church and an evangelical Christian Fellowship Center closed their doors as well, moving miles to the east, beyond the “transition troubles.” … For many of these congregations, relocation was a financial nightmare. McKendree Methodist Church, for example, claimed an investment of $120,000 in its Moreland Heights property, but hoped to recoup just half that amount after its relocation. Racial transition, by their accounts, proved costly. — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 208

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Black middle-class suburbanization emptied inner-city churches of their civic function — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black: How Race Still…, 385; Catholic bishops shifted resources to white suburban parishes while abandoning black inner-city churches — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 197

Broader Connections

• Catholic bishops shifted resources to white suburban parishes while abandoning black inner-city churches #expands (0.82) — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 197
• Black middle-class suburbanization emptied inner-city churches of their civic function #corroborates (0.78) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 385